Ethanol: I'd like to see a study or post mortem review of how much ethanol has improved emissions. 10% (E10) seems insignificant. On the other hand, there is a noticeable drop in mpg. So that means, all transportation has to burn more gallons to cover the same distance.
So...
1. Does consuming more gallons of E10 to cover the same distance translate into more pollution? Or does it break even?
2. How much more per gallon does it cost the consumer since we are consuming more gallons? This is easy to compute. Guess ~ 10 cents? more per gallon? Most of us will drive miles to save a few pennies per gallon.
3. What REAL PRICE of a gallon of E10 with all of the hidden subsidies and kickbacks removed?
4. Ethanol is mostly created from corn. Means less corn supply. Corn is a key component in many other food sources. Does this drive the cost up for those food sources?
5. Ethanol is more difficult to store and transport. How does this affect cost?
I bet if you had hard facts and answers for the above questions, you'd have to ask the question: why are we using ethanol? It doesn't make economic sense and has negligible impact on emissions.
Absolutely -- no question about it. And don't forget that it costs more energy to make a gallon of ethanol than the energy that gallon provides. This forced-ethanolization is a perfect example of the government's subsidizing one group (corn farmers) at the expense of virtually everyone else.
There is no energy or emissions gain whatsoever, everyone knows, it -- yet no one is willing to stop it.